Thief: A Darker Future
by Leo6
Summary: Well, this is something like a pet project. Enjoy reading the intro!
1. Default Chapter

Note: Have mercy on me, okay? I've played both The Dark Project and The Metal Age many months ago because I do have this strange, if not zealous fascination towards thieves. Enjoy reading it! Chapters soon to come!

--Leo

_The New Age has dawned,_

_Replacing the old with the new from the same foundations._

_But as the light that shines upon man continues to grow,_

The shadows of the night will grow darker still… 

--Revelation of the Keepers

Leo Presents:

Thief

A Darker Future

Introduction:

I once had a dream. A dream where darkness still continue to overpower our world that there is no such need as tomorrow, like the undulating black silk that covers the waters of the sea at night.

In that world I was free. Free to do anything to survive.

Abandoned as a child, I was forced to run away from the orphanage, unable to allow to be bound by the kind of hypocrisy that the nuns would call 'love'. Living in the streets were harsh, due to the uncaring swathe that radiates within the very core of society, not even once glancing a second time to a lowly street urchin such as myself. To me, hatred is my ally; cunning is my devotion; fear is my strength; the tools that gave way to my crowning career. The years were kinder to me as I continued my craft, stealing from unwary tourists and offers from one person to the next. The modern age also has done wonders and now I could also provide my services with a touch of a button. I do say that a thief will only hate their kind. I am but a tool to justify their ends, not their means.

But something extraordinary happened to me that will change my life forever. One stormy evening in my flat, two hooded men knocked upon my door. Wondering what sort of Halloween trick they would try to pull on me, my mind changed immediately when one of them showed me a list. I kept a firm eye on what it was written and recognized the numerous numbers written. Bank accounts, names; these were the same one that I tried to hack in only minutes ago. Realizing that they have found me I bolted to a run. Almost everywhere I go they are always there even though I managed to elude them. With my luck finally ran out and they all surrounded me I closed my eyes and prepared to meet my maker. Instead, they presented me a medallion and for the first time my eyes sparkled. It was something that no plastic money in the world was worth its value. 

It was a gold medallion in shape of a keyhole.

They call themselves Keepers.

For six months I have been under the watchful eye of the Keepers as they trained me their arts. Though traditional in my standards, they have the skills that have been honed for hundreds of years that proved useful to me as well as adding a few tricks of my own.

They say that Garret was reborn in me, but that only proves as an irony.

My name is Patricia Garret; I am a thief.


	2. Chapter 01

"The Trojan Horse of Troy was man's first attempt for military stealth. They value more of the sword to pierce their enemies in the back rather than a dagger stabbing them in the front…"

-Unknown

Journal Entry 0257: March 17, 2012.

As I stood into the darkened atmosphere in the center of the inner cloister, I watched the rows of pedestals that seemed to fill with so many eyes watching over me. The flickering torches in its holders on the marble columns were beginning to play tricks in my mind as the shadows danced before the fire and the flammable substance called 'kerosene' filled the air with the strange arcane serenity. Somehow it reminded me of thoughts of home from a life long ago. Before I take missions of my own, my existence as well as theirs must be erased. Fortunately, Master Elias told me where to find my rap sheets, biodata and such and they were all located within the Internal Affairs Building in Wessex just yesterday afternoon.

A night before the insertion I met up with an old friend in a pub, who, let's just say he was one of my colleagues now retired from the 'business'. It was a friend-of-a-friend kind of thing that he will bring me the floor plans of the IA Building as well as access to the mainframe for half the price. I never knew him to pinch pennies or to be so generous so I asked; "Who do you want me to erase?" The old fat goat flashed me his toothless grin and gave me a piece of paper along with a holo-disk containing the floor plans and a keycard to the service elevator. I could never say 'no' to the old chap since he helped me find jobs for a percentage, but I never have much of a choice not to say 'yes'. I gave him my C-Card and transferred the amount into his account before blending into the shadows.

The floor plans were quite detailed with little yet sizeable dark corners. Four main elevator shafts are at the center of the building, forming a square corner position exactly five meters apart. And in the middle facing south is the door that will lead to the mainframe. I doubt that I could just climb up in a solitary side of the building, so I might as well use the keycard for the service elevator. After all I paid every credit for it, might as well put it to good use.

The task was simple enough: head to the mainframe on the fifth floor, which is kept under lock and one keycard. Easy said than done with all the heat and motion detectors still active so the only way to pass through without being detected is to infiltrate any security grid and use a retro virus that will reset the video data recorder by four hours. The bulldogs will definitely miss out on tonight's exciting episode on their monitors as my virus takes over without affecting the data timestamp.

I will begin the real work once I gain access to the mainframe so I brought along an undetectable Trojan Horse program I designed that would erase any specific file I wanted, which also included the name on the paper. It was my fault when I first tried to hack in through their system and eventually bits and pieces were left in cyberspace. Crazy girl I thought, it should be a natural thing for a woman to pick up after herself. In due time the bulldogs would pick up the scent and we would be tracked down in no time. I was definitely going to go down with them once they pick a right evening to do some inventories.

Security is rather laughable as the goat assured me, only a few guards in pairs would patrol the outside perimeter and three to four guard on every floor. Cameras are a problem, though, so I take my EMP gun with me always to short out anything electrical for a few seconds. I rarely believe of a true security guard on a twenty-four-hour watch behind the monitoring console, but that is a chance I cannot afford to take. My stun gun is also pretty handy even if the Order wanted me to use a blackjack. Knowing this I had to work with as little equipment as possible so I made some radical improvements in my equipment.

I am sure they would never arrest a woman just for passing by the IA gates since Wessex is within a shopping district in Central London. But that does not mean I will not be able to pry any bits of info from the guards. After all, chivalry is the better part of a man's valor and the best weapon to use against them.

Chapter 01

Insertion time start: 20:41.

It was almost difficult to distinguish between the darkness of the sky and the large cumulus clouds filled with so much moisture that it rained for almost two hours. With one bright flash, the sound of rolling thunder swept throughout the shopping district of Central London. The street lamps flickered and dimmed for a few short seconds, possibly a bolt of lightning has struck a metal object that reached down through one part of the circuit of electric pipes all over the city. Road traffic is light at these hours and less so for pedestrians except for those other people who wishes to spent this time of the evening in festive camaraderie.

Two blocks down in the left corner of New Harrods Department Store, a woman staggers and swayed under the light drizzle after taking shelter from the rain in one of the many waiting stations all over the city. She wore a brown-stripped heavy looking Cloned Animal Skin coat, or as others would call it CAS and her shoulder length black hair shimmered with moisture. Nearing towards the concrete wall at the back of the ten-story Internal Affairs Building she breaks out into a somber and disharmonic tune.

A guardhouse was situated just left of the south entrance when a single security officer heard the tiny footsteps. As he peered through the small window that gives a view of the sidewalk, he saw a woman passing through the only waiting shed on the block. Ever since the latest computer break in of the IA's mainframes six months ago and considered the first, the entire security personnel were ordered to be wary of anything or anyone passing by. The guard picked up his pulse rifle off its cradle, along with his closed-face helmet and light armor made of Teolene and slips them on. He steps outside the guardhouse as he watches the woman coming close by almost seven yards. Before he could tell her to hurry along, the woman suddenly dropped to her knees and moaned. She remained there for almost half a minute as she coughed slightly. The guard clicked his tongue as he stared at the woman, thinking that she had too much to drink as he slung the rifle over his left shoulder and approached her.

"Good evening, miss." The guard spoke and was acutely aware of the smell of whisky emanating from her heavy breathing even under his helmet. "It seems that you had quite a party."

"I sure did, Mr.…?" The woman slightly shook her head before slipping back to her drunken stupor.

"Well…" the security guard said when the streetlights managed to get a perfect angle that illuminated her face. She was indeed a beautiful woman. "Actually you shouldn't be loitering here, miss. You know very well that cars and pedestrians are prohibited to loiter this here block after nine in the evening."

"I know, handsome." The woman forced a smiled. "But I don't think I could catch a cab here at this hour and Harrods's just too far to go without passing out."

The guard slowly lifted the woman off the ground with his hand around her waist and her arm across his shoulders. They walked towards the waiting station and placed her over the bench.

"You just wait there, miss, and I'll ring up a cab for you." The guard said under his helmet and returned back to his post.

The guardhouse is a six-by-six foot workstation with a holo-projector, videophone, a computer, and for obvious reasons a coffee maker, just enough for a lone security guard to perform his duties in the dead of night. Pressing the 'call' button over the videophone touch screen, he removed his helmet and pressed the number for the London Taxi Company. An electronic ringing tone came through the speakers as he waited and after five rings the automated answering menu appeared on the screen. He pressed the desired menu button on the screen for how many taxis the passenger needed, unaware of a one-foot black rod being pointed at the back of his head. A slender arm holding the rod slowly slid its right thumb over a small mound on the shaft and presses it. The end part of the rod hissed sharply with hydraulic pressure, sending a near invisible needle penetrating through the small of the guard's upper neck. Without having to feel the strange drowsiness washing over him except for the sting, the guard falls to the floor with a heavy thud and the rod was lowered. On the concrete ground of the waiting station outside lay a fur coat, a woman's dress, shoes and the face of the beautiful drunken woman lying shapelessly before bursting into flames. It took only a few seconds for everything to reduce to ashes and carried by the wind.

Checking that no one was nearby, a female figure with a black, featureless face and a rectangular device attached over her right eye looms over the unconscious guard. Her entire body is covered in a dull black suit-like substance called Fusion Cell Gellatoid Compound or FCGC. This amazing substance was once considered a groundless rumor, developed by the order of a rogue dictator from his team of scientists in a foreign land shortly before he was captured. It acts as a catalyst that could generate a decent amount of electrical energy from body heat, powering certain devices like scanners, communication devices, and a mobile computer for a span of six hours once attached before dissolving into liquid and doubles as a heat cloaking suit. Two mysteries were hidden within the gellatoid suit. The substance itself is the first mystery in its own as of how the suit is actually worn where there are no openings or sewn parts found while the second one happens to be the question of how she managed to secure the chemical formula.

The female assailant shifts her sights towards the videophone and immediately reached her fingers over to the 'disconnect' button flashing on the touch screen before the image fades to black. Reaching her hand over her left hip she dug her fingers through the gellatoid suit until it punches through and pulls out a small plastic strip about the size of a stick of chewing gum. Part of the woman's skin was clearly visible until the punctures of the gellatoid suit begins to close up as she slips the plastic strip through a small slot on the computer console. She shifts her faceless sights towards a small video camera at the left corner of the ceiling, watching the blinking red indicator near the lens of the camera before switching to green. The images emitted from the holo-projector showed live video feeds behind the outer perimeter of wall and spotted tow guards about thirty yards from a small storage room near the wall. Retrieving the stick from the slot after it ejected it, she picked up the unconscious guard and placed him on the chair to make him look like he was sitting down. Checking to make sure that everything is in place, the woman exits the guard booth towards the wall.

Standing about three feet from the wall, the woman bends her knees halfway and folded her elbows, mustering her strength to her legs. With one kick her body shot up through the air over the fifteen-foot-tall wall in a somersault, landing just about five yards near the storage room and she slithers her way behind and waited. Two pairs of men's feet broke the silence as she hears the sound of grass and pebbles crushing under their weight. They were both wearing the same Teolene suits, helmets and plasma rifles like the guard in the guardhouse as they scanned their perimeter. Turning to the left behind the roofed generators, the first man on the right spoke in his helmet, hailing Central Control.

"Jennings to Central. Everything's clear on our side, over."

"Copy that." The voice came through the speakers inside Jennings' helmet replied.

"Slow night I'd say." Jennings' partner said as he scans the right side from where he stands.

"You could say that again. That bloody fool Manstrel has been dogging us at these hours ever since the mainframe was breached. If I were them they should replace Manstrel and probably replace him with me."

The other guard shook his head and laughed. "Right. As if you're more alert than a snail after taking a pot of coffee."

Jennings shifted his sights towards the guardhouse as part of his routine. The two approached the guardhouse when they stopped and saw the guard with his head limp on his neck. Bending on the ground he picks up a small pebble and throws it towards the sleeping guard. It hit him squarely over the crown of his head as startled guard jerked his head upwards and blinked.

"Oi! Panning! Why in bloody blazes are you sleeping, you idiot!" Jennings shouted after removing his helmet in order to speak clearly.

Panning gave a drowsy stare towards Jennings before shaking his head. After a few seconds he managed to speak though his voice sounded tired.

"Sorry about that." Panning steps out of the guardhouse as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "I was dreaming about this woman, see, and…"

Jennings could only shake his head towards Panning while he gives the full description on what he saw in his dream. The other guard stood behind Jennings, unaware that the female intruder managed to slip away from them towards the back door of the parking basement about thirty meters away, using the storage room to block the guard's view.

(continued)


End file.
